Discussion on World Socialist Web Site  

Minnesota school district removes To Kill a Mocking Bird  and Huckleberry Finn from curriculum

How many high school kids know about Mark Twain the passionate anti-imperialist ? More than 100 years ago Twain ridiculed the War Party and the Spanish American War, the seizure of the Philippines .

 All this phony fussing over and superficial respect for race and gender and gay rights is a deceitful cover for a bipartisan attack on ALL working class people as a CLASS.

Do " Black Lives Matter " any less than white lives when they are homeless or jobless or in prison in the American Gulag ? Is capitalism deferential to exploited gay or lesbian factory workers ?

 What difference does it make what rest room you prefer when PUBLIC REST ROOMS are so hard to find or in deplorable condition ? Do males get a higher RIDICULOUS minimum wage than females ? And most working class whites - even living in the Old South- can only laugh at " white privilege ".

Isn't CLASS a much deeper reality than the delusions of " identity politics " ? 

My favorite Mark Twain quote :

“In our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either.”

Of course , in the movie " To Kill A Mockingbird " idealistic lawyer Atticus Finch makes an eloquent speech in defense of the majesty of the courts , in defense of the law .

“But there is one way in this country which all men are created equal—there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man equal of an Einstein, and an ignorant man equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen, is a court. It can be the Supreme Court of the United States or the humblest J.P. court in the land, or this honourable court which you serve. Our courts have their faults, as does any human constitution, but in this country our courts are the great levellers, and in our courts all men are created equal.



 

 He was quickly proved wrong ! LAW is not above the bias of the ruling class- not

even many years after 1932 " Old South " Alabama.